Light in the Darkness
by Nickeek
Summary: Naru is attacked and lets out a power that she must now learn to control. The past 8 years of her life have been hell, but will she decide to control her powers for good, or will she destroy herself and everything around her? (FemNaruto / Eventual NaruShika / First Fic)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

October tenth. On this day, all of Konoha's citizens gather to celebrate the death of the nine tailed beast that brought destruction and chaos to the hidden village in the leaves. The festival that takes place every year runs through nearly all the streets in Konoha and the only ones who do not make an appearance are the shinobi on missions, and one 8 year old girl named Naruko. While most little girls are enjoying the sights and activities in the festival, Naruko can be seen running for her life from a group of civilians.

"Get back here you demon!"

"Don't let it get away!"

Exhaustion can be seen on her face as she runs from the angry villagers. Looking back to see how far they are, she trips on a tree stump and tumbles to the ground. The group quickly catches up to the girl and sneer at her fearful look.

A man speaks up, "Don't look so innocent monster, we finally have you and no one is coming to save you this time". The girl looks around and takes notice of where she is. There is nothing but trees and bush. She snorts; her luck has finally run out.

She is slapped by a middle aged woman. "Don't laugh! You will not be getting out of this one."

The rest of the group takes this as their cue to start beating the girl. Each one spouts out hateful words with every punch and kick. After a while of watching the child get thrashed around by the group, a man in the back walks up to the girl and the rest of them stop their onslaught. The girl looks up from the ground and notices that he differs slightly from the rest of them. She sees a shinobi headband tied to his arm and realizes she's not just getting a beating this time. He stops in front of her and pulls out a kunai.

"I hope that you know the pain you've brought this village".

"W-what have I done? Please, I didn't mean it. Whatever it is I'm sorry!"

This seemed to be the wrong thing to say as the calm look on his face quickly turned to disgust. "You think you can just apologize demon?"

The group begins to cry out for her blood and he bends down just close enough for her to hear his next words, "I'll give them blood, but know this, you will die slowly and painfully by my hand. Understand me?"

Dread. That is all that can be seen on the girls face. She quickly tries to get away when two men hold her down by her limbs and the shinobi begins to cut her slowly.

After what feels like an eternity of pain, she suddenly feels nothing.

 **In her mindscape**

Hesitantly, the girl opens her eyes.

"A sewer?"

A commanding tone bursts through the tunnels " **Come here child** ".

Still with a bit of fear in her eyes, she gets up off the cold ground and begins walking in the direction of the voice. She stops when she enters a large room with cage like bars separating her from… Well she doesn't know.

" **Yes child, be wary, but never walk up to the unknown with that look of worry** ".

With as much confidence as she can muster up she walks closer to the bars while still keeping her distance and speaks,

"Show yourself".

" **Tsk-tsk such little respect you have girl** ".

She crosses her arms feeling irritated by the teasing, "Well how can I give respect to someone I haven't even seen yet?"

A laugh is heard, " **fair enough** ".

In the darkness, two giant yellow eyes open that seem to glow with authority, rise up and get closer as the rest of the being comes into her view.

"Y-you…" She takes a step back as a huge red fox enters her view. She notes the nine tails swaying behind it and is filled with awe at the beauty of the creature.

"Who are you?"

The fox seems to expect the question, " **I am the nine tailed demon fox the villagers are celebrating the death of** ".

Confused, she questions, "If you are dead then why are you here? Actually, where is here?"

The fox sits down and shakes his head, " **You don't even recognize your own mind? Well I guess you are still young. As to why I am here, I did not die on this day eight years ago. I was sealed into you when you were born and have been waiting for the chance to speak with you. It is unfortunate that the circumstances to get you here are… Unfavorable** ".

Remembering the situation she was in before coming here her face becomes distressed. "So I'm holding you in my mind, which is where we are right now, and the villagers don't like you…" The fox snorts "…So that's why everyone wants me dead? Cause I have you?"

Making an odd face at her last comment, the fox answers, " **Yes, that is basically the case** ".

Her face darkens and her eyes become distant, "… Kyuubi-san, am I really going to die?"

The Kyuubi, surprised by the honorific, quickly sobers. " **No. You will not be dying today. Look child, we have much more to discuss and very little time to do so right now. I cannot help you with my own power yet, but you can briefly access another power within you so you may get to safety. You need to trust me though and do exactly as I say** ".

After a moment of thinking, a determined look crosses her face, "Alright, what do I gotta do?"

The fox smirks, " **Turn around and go through the tunnel to your left. After that…** "

 **Outside world**

"Enough! Just kill her already! She isn't even awake anymore to feel the pain."

The shinobi faced the civilian and directed killer intent on them, but followed the demand anyway. He lifts up his bloody kunai to pierce the child in the heart when movement catches his eye. He looks in the child's eyes and sees only red.

He chuckles, "so the demon makes an appearance for me? How fantastic!" The shinobi quickly stabs the kunai into the girl, but at the last second she moves so that she takes it in the stomach. Suddenly, the men holding her down jump away like they've been burned and the group surrounds her.

"T **h** i **s** i **s** o **v** e **r**." The voice coming out of her was not of a child anymore. Not completely demonic either, but like a dangerous animal being set free.

Suddenly, a chain shot out of her and impaled the shinobi above her. He fell onto her and she quickly threw him off and chains pierced through each person that tried to subdue her. Anyone left began to run and more chains followed them until they were skewered. When only Naru was left, her chains disappeared and she began to run. Going deeper and deeper into the forest, she stopped as the forest became darker and too dense to pass through safely. She found an area that looked much like an entrance and continued fleeing until her adrenaline wore off. Not ever noticing the "Do not enter" sign.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi there!

So I posted the first chapter hoping that it would get a good response and it seems it did! Thank you to the people who reviewed and said they liked it. I'm surprised it has follows, but it even has favorites too! That's really cool to me. Oh and so I thought that I'd be able to do tons of writing when I first decided to post this story, but then suddenly I get more shifts at work. Seriously, I get home and all I want to do is watch netflix and pass out. I finally got the motivation to add another chapter and I'm really happy with this one. I don't know if 1,300 words is very much, but I'm doing my best.

Again, thank you! I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Known as the 'God of Shinobi', the third Hokage has put fear into his enemies, and at the same time been the grandfather to his entire village. His grace and intelligence is known throughout the nations and has earned him respect from all who have heard of him.

However, today is not his best day.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HER? DO YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS? YOU'RE ANBU FOR KAMI'S SAKE!"

The anbu in question are currently bowing to their leader… from far across the room. One speaks up, "I'm sorry for our failure Hokage-sama. She made it a game to escape us and unknowingly entered the main street of the festival. We lost sight of her in the crowd."

Walking up to his window to compose himself, he sighs. "She's not at her home?"

"No sir. We checked all her usual spots."

He can feel his hair become more grey by the second. "Keep searching. Look in every part of Konoha and if you still don't find her look outside our walls. Dismissed."

The anbu shunshin away and he walks to his desk. Sitting down he puts his head in his hands.

"Naruko, please be okay."

 **In Konoha**

Shikaku Nara doesn't enjoy festivals. They're loud and crowded, and they always bring some sort of trouble. It's why his wife loves festivals and it's also why when his wife finally grew tired of dragging him around the village, he sped off as much as a Nara could to his favorite bar. That's where he could be found right now as one of his clansmen soon discovered.

"Shikaku-sama!"

The man in question sighed as his long awaited peace was disrupted. Turning to his subordinate he answers, "you know, the fireworks are about to start. If you don't leave now you're going to miss them."

"I apologize for disturbing you sir, but the deer are showing irregular behavior."

Taking a sip of his sake, the clan head nods in understanding. The Nara clan cares deeply for the deer residing in the Nara forest. "All Konoha animals become a little… restless on this day. You know that".

"Yes, of course sir, but it seems they are doing this on purpose. No one is being let in the forest. We checked the entire perimeter and there is no way in without being harmed. It seems they only want you".

Turning his head to face the man, he replies, "What makes you say that?"

"One is currently standing post at your front door".

It is not easy to surprise a Nara, especially if it's Shikaku, but he had to admit that this piece of information was a little disturbing. The deer haven't had a lockdown since before he was born, not only that, but the deer never leave the forest; not even when the kyuubi attacked.

Downing the rest of his drink, he paid the bartender and thanked the young shinobi for letting him know. Once outside, he shunshinned to his home where a deer was indeed lying in wait at his door. When he walked up it simply stood up and nodded its head in a way that told him to follow it.

Shikaku didn't know what he was expecting, but the calmness of the deer unnerved him. It was acting like its behavior was a regular occurrence when it definitely was not. He knew the Nara forest was their destination and had been in it many times before. However, this time he was on edge. The noises you would normally hear in a forest were not there. It was dead silent; much like how it felt right before getting ambushed.

Suddenly, the deer stopped and Shikaku realized that this was almost exactly the middle of the dense woodland. The deer turned around and seemed to almost narrow its eyes at him before stepping aside. Shikaku took this as his cue to walk through the tall bush and was met with a small open clearing. His eyes widened as an intense metallic smell wafted to his nose and he quickly took notice of where it was coming from. In the middle of the clearing, a small girl was passed out on the ground covered in blood. As he ran to the figure he recognized the whisker-like birthmarks on the child's face. Setting aside his ideas on what happened; he quickly checked her for wounds being careful not to disturb the kunai imbedded in her stomach. While small remnants of cuts could be seen, he noticed that they were healing at an incredible rate and would disappear completely in a few minutes; the only part of her not able to heal was the stab wound.

"So, this is what has become of you. How troublesome".

Carefully he picked her up and sped out of the forest leaving his lazy demeanor for another day. Once outside, he met with a group of Nara's that looked a little roughed up.

Stopping in front of them, he ordered them to not speak of this night and told one of them to get the Hokage to meet him at the hospital.

"Tell him it's about the Jinchuriki, hurry!"

He took to the rooftops to avoid the villagers and started making his way to the hospital.

As careful as he was being, the girl began to stir. He stopped and looked down to see bright blue eyes staring back. Wondering who could have possibly done this to her, he was quickly pulled from his thoughts when she suddenly screamed and startled him enough to get out of his arms.

Putting distance between them, she ran until she reached the edge of the roof. Seeing no way down, she turned back around and tried her best to get in a defensive position.

Taking a step towards her, he paused seeing the horrified look on her face.

"Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

Kneeling so as to not look so intimidating, he called out to her softly, "Hi there. My name is Shikaku."

"..."

"What's your name?"

"..."

"I have a son that looks around your age. His name is Shikamaru."

"..."

"He likes to watch the clouds go by. Do you like the sky?"

More silence. He was beginning to wonder how Ibiki was so good at this when he had the appearance of a serial killer.

".a..ko.."

She spoke so quietly that he almost didn't hear her at all.

"I'm sorry, my hearing is not as good as it once was. What was that?"

"… Naruko. My name is Naruko."

He smiles at her, "Well that is a beautiful name Naruko. Sounds like the name a princess would have."

He notices the corner of her mouth twitch up slightly at his words. Quietly thanking kami that he's making some progress, her expression suddenly turns pained. She looks down at her stomach and he realizes she's just noticing the kunai and blood.

She looks back at him panicked and tries to step back only to catch herself before falling off the roof.

He tries to get to her and she yells, "Stop! Get away from me!"

Taking a small step towards her, "You need help Naruko. I need to get you to a hospital."

"No! Go away!"

Another step. "If you stay with me you'll be safe."

She crouches and puts her head in her hands. "No no no, please don't."

She starts mumbling and He notices that she's starting to go into shock. "Naruko, I promise I won't hurt you."

Taking a few more steps he's close enough now to hear her.

"Blood. So much blood. This is their blood. I killed them. They deserved to die, but I killed them. Did they deserve to die? Am I really a demon? What if he gets close…" She looks up at him and he takes in the broken look on her face. "…if you get close you'll die."

He quickly knocks her out and picks her up. In her distress she forced the kunai into a new position making the wound bigger so he heads to the hospital at a quicker pace than before.

"What the hell happened to her?"


	3. Chapter 3

So, It's been awhile. Hey but at least I didn't drop the fic right? Heh and I got to around 1300 words again and I know my chapters are short for how long it takes me to upload them, but I just stop when I feel like the chapter needs to end.

Also, it does not take me a month to write 1300 words... It takes me 2 nights out of that month and 28 days of telling myself that, "I should really write more of my story".

Yes I'm the type of writer that I hate.

Yes I'm disappointed with myself.

No it probably won't make me get chapters out any faster.

I also feel like my three chapters have been pretty similar and while I don't really like that, I think it's needed for now until I get to when Naruko gets out of the hospital and things other than introducing characters can happen. Action, drama, feelys, all that fun stuff.

So even though it's short again, I do hope you all enjoy this chapter.

* * *

It has been a week since Naruko was brought to the hospital and she has been unconscious since Shikaku knocked her out; a fact that the Hokage was not happy about. Though they were informed that her chakra was sending out signals that she was forcing herself to stay dormant, Shikaku couldn't help but feel like he was still being punished for the situation they were currently in. The Hokage put Shikaku on important, but monotonous paperwork duties. The Hokage had reasoned with him saying, _"I'll need you around, ready to analyze Naruko when she wakes up"._

This makes perfect sense as he was the only one to have been with Naruko before she decided to stay comatose. However, it was still punishment. He didn't need the Nara intelligence to figure that one out.

Finished with the paperwork for today, Shikaku left the Hokage tower and his thoughts drifted to when he brought Naruko to the hospital.

 _Flashback_

Bursting through the hospital doors Shikaku ran up to the receptionist, "I need a doctor right now."

The man behind the desk was startled by his sudden appearance and went to call for a doctor when he noticed the child in his arms.

Stopping himself, he spoke, "Nara-san I don't think you understand who you are holding. You need not worry too much. Leave her somewhere and you can…"

Irritated, he cuts him off. "Is Hanae here?"

"Excuse me?"

"Is. Hanae. Here?"

"Ah yes, she should be in her office, but I don't know why you would need her."

Not bothering to respond he walks right past the man and hurriedly makes his way towards the research and development department. Reaching his destination, he opens the door and looks around the messy office to find no one there.

"Shikaku?"

Recognizing the voice of the person he was looking for, he turns around and sees a woman with puzzled look on her face. Having no time for conversing, his face takes on a serious look.

"Will you heal this girl?"

To someone listening this sounded like a simple request, but the woman understood the meaning of his words. This was neither a question nor an order. She knew who the child was and most importantly, what she held. He was challenging her, subtly conveying that respect can be gained or lost in this moment.

"Follow me."

The clan head did as told. They quickly arrived at an empty room nearby that appeared to be used for experiments. There was no bed in sight so he placed Naruko on the empty table in the center of the room where Hanae quickly went to work on the girl.

"So how did you get stuck with babysitting duty?"

Relaxing slightly he leans against the table, "A little birdie brought her to me… or I guess I should say I was brought to her. Also, the bird was a deer."

She gives him a funny look, "Odd for a deer to do a birds work wouldn't you think?"

"I believe a bird wasn't the right fit for this particular job. It might have not been as careful as the deer was with her."

"Well they are more intelligent than most things in this village. They can tell when something is important enough to preserve."

He understood her message.

She glances at him briefly, "Maybe they brought you to her for that reason."

Puzzled he asks, "What?"

"Shikaku, she would have been fine even if you didn't take her to me. I believe it knew that."

"But…"

The conversation was cut short by the door opening.

The Hokage walks in and observes the scene before him, "what is her condition?"

Hanae is the one to speak up, her voice changing to one of a seasoned medic. "I am currently healing a wound from a standard kunai that was deeply lodged in the patient's stomach. There is evidence that more damage has been done to the exterior of her body so I will have to do a full examination once I am done with this wound."

The Hokage nods. Turning to Shikaku, he orders, "Let's give her some room to work."

Following his village leader to the hall, he notices the two anbu stationed outside the door.

The Hokage stops and turns to him. "Tell me everything that has happened until this point."

 _End of flashback_

' _Is there a specific reason why the deer sent for me? She was in pretty bad shape, but if what Hanae said is true then my life is about to become a lot more troublesome.'_

Sighing he continues his leisurely walk, almost making it home when he senses someone's immediate approach. Stopping in his tracks an anbu appears in front of him.

"Shikaku-sama, I am to escort you to the hospital where Naruko is currently residing."

Recognizing the mask as one of the anbu made to guard her room was wearing, he enquires about her situation. "Has she woken up?"

"I was not given any information other than what my orders were. Let us not waste time."

"Are you escorting me so I don't take too long to reach the hospital."

He notices the anbu hesitate for a quick moment before replying. "We should always be quick to complete orders from our Hokage."

"Alright let's go."

' _What am I walking into?'_

 **Naruko mindscape (earlier that day)**

Walking around the cage in her mind, Naruko is continuing her week long conversation with the Kyuubi. As one sided as it may be.

"The silence is nice don't you think Kyuu?"

"…"

"There's a lotta nothing in here and it's kinda refreshing. There's always something going on out there. It makes me sleepy."

"…"

"Hey hey Kyuu, what if I stayed in here forever?"

Said creature has suddenly opened its eyes after doing nothing but lying down for a week straight.

"… **No. Absolutely not."**

The sound of his voice startles her. "Kyuu?"

She watches him lift his head up and stare right at her like he's willing her to burn up in front of him.

" **Girl, when are you going to give this up?"**

She plops herself down in front of him. "What do you mean?"

Sighing, he goes back to his previous position and is blunt with his response. **"Stop holding on to what you were. You're better than this. You're not the same anymore and refusing to accept your changes really is going to keep you here forever."**

Crossing her arms she pouts, "well I've been trying to get out but..."

" **You are forgetting that I can hear your thoughts. Don't lie to me. It's irritating. I figured you would accept it on your own but I refuse to have you here any longer. Stop acting like a child."**

"I am a child."

" **I said not to lie to me. You're only fooling yourself. When you asked the about your possible death I saw the potential you had within you. Don't hinder yourself child."**

She deadpans "I thought you said I wasn't a child."

" **Well if you continue acting like one…"**

Standing up she creates a paintbrush in her mind and begins making random lines on the floor. "Alright alright, but experience aside, I am still only eight. I only know who I've been up to this point and even if it's not genuine anymore I don't know how else to act…" The kyuubi watches her paint the floor around him. "… Just, tell me what to do".

" **As much as I would love to, your incessant talking has worn me down. Do what feels natural. If you find yourself forcing yourself to do something then it's not worth it. Now, if you say one more word I'm going to eat you even if it kills me."**

She stops for a moment and smiles. Going back to her art she doesn't notice the eyes that continue to follow the movements of her hand.


End file.
